Envisaging a future under climate change tends to generate apocalyptic scenarios, which can make people feel helpless and switch them off from taking action. Leeds researcher James McKay is aiming to change perceptions with his climate fiction, which portrays positive visions through graphic novels. Laurie Goering of Thomson Reuters interviews the Priestley Centre engineer who runs...
Research by Dr Ryan Neely (National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Earth and Environment) and Dr Anja Schmidt (Earth and Environment) with Professor Susan Solomon of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that found the first signs of healing in the ozone layer has created headlines around the world. Both of the University of Leeds academics...
The need for clarity in the composition of greenhouse gas targets set by countries has been underlined in a guest post for Carbon Brief by Professor Myles Allen of the University of Oxford and Priestley Centre director Piers Forster. The post, which discusses a new study in Nature Climate Change by the authors and colleagues...
Is a global temperature target of 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels – as enshrined in the Paris Climate Change Agreement – really possible? Interviewed for a Nature Podcast on 21 April, Priestley Centre’s director Piers Forster is optimistic, although he admits the Paris negotiations caught scientists unawares. “It did indicate that we weren’t doing our job,”...
The economic impact of the 2015 Boxing Day floods on the regional economy of Calderdale has been estimated at £170 million, with SMEs suffering double the losses of the previous winter floods in 2012 and some closing permanently. The figures, which show an average loss per firm of £47,000, representing around 12% of their annual turnover, were presented in...